For centuries many sincere Christian believers—including pastors and leaders—have promoted a “born again” message to sinners consisting of a simple belief in Jesus as the Christ or Messiah, which activates a “new birth” and guarantees entrance into God’s eternal Kingdom. However, the actual “new birth” experience itself is often poorly or vaguely defined, causing it to be misconstrued by many as a newfound desire to be conformed to accepted or established religious (Christian) doctrine and standards.

So what exactly does the term “born again” mean? Is it a biblical term, and if so, to whom and by whom was it first used? What was the original context? What are the conditions, if any, in order to partake of such an experience? How can we tell if our own experience is genuine? These are very important questions which we will attempt to address in this article. Bear in mind, however, that these must first become genuine questions within your own heart. The greatest obstacle to truth is a heart of error, and error is allowed to flourish not so much by what you don’t know, but by what you think you know.

The Nicodemus Exchange

The term “born again” can actually be found in an official capacity at least twice in Scripture, with the principle or concept scattered throughout both the Old and New Testaments numerous times, so we know the term is biblical. The first time that this term was officially used in Scripture is recorded in John’s gospel, in the famous discourse between Jesus and a high ranking religious ruler named Nicodemus.

Now when he was in Jerusalem at the Passover Feast, many believed in his name when they saw the signs that he was doing. But Jesus on his part did not entrust himself to them, because he knew all people and needed no one to bear witness about man, for he himself knew what was in man.

            Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. This man came to Jesus by night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.” Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” Nicodemus said to him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?” Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”

            Nicodemus said to him, “How can these things be?” Jesus answered him, “Are you the teacher of Israel and yet you do not understand these things? Truly, truly, I say to you, we speak of what we know, and bear witness to what we have seen, but you do not receive our testimony. If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you heavenly things? No one has ascended into heaven except he who descended from heaven, the Son of Man. And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.

(John 2:23-25; John 3:1-15 ESV)

You will notice that even though Nicodemus does not officially enter the picture until the beginning of the third chapter of John, we have included the previous three verses that conclude the second chapter of John in order to provide a better context for this exchange. These three verses provide us with a very important backdrop for understanding what is about to transpire.

According to the text, Jesus was in Jerusalem during the Passover festival prior to Nicodemus’ visit. Jerusalem, in this context, should be interpreted as symbolizing the seat of religious activity. It was where the temple was located, and was recognized as the official place of worship in Israel. If Washington DC in the United States is recognized as the official capital and seat of civil government in the nation, then Jerusalem in Israel was the same from a religious standpoint. Jerusalem was the seat and symbol for religious activity and worship in all the land. The fact that it was during the Passover festival that Jesus was in Jerusalem provides even greater significance and emphasis to this religious aspect, because it meant that mostly the devoutly religious were gathered, including the Pharisees.[1]

Here is where it gets very interesting. Among the possible thousands of devoted religious practitioners gathered together at the temple in Jerusalem for Passover, Jesus performed certain signs that caused many of the people gathered there to believe in his name. Exactly what signs Jesus performed we are not told. However, the result was that many believed in his name. This is basically synonymous with the later expression believes in Him (3:15, 16). In other words, out of this massive religious company gathered together during Passover in Jerusalem, many had become believers (in Jesus) or “Christians.”

John then goes on to share some deep insight regarding Jesus’ internal disposition toward this significant influx of new believers. John clearly states that even though many of them believed on Him, Jesus still did not entrust or commit Himself to them.

The word translated as entrust in this instance is the same word previously translated as believed in the previous verse. There is a significant word-play being employed here in the Greek—one of several clever puns found in this passage. John was basically saying that even though many believed in Jesus, He Himself did not have any belief in them.

Multitudes had seen Jesus’ miraculous signs and had expressed faith in Jesus not just as a miracle worker, but one sent from God, even the promised Messiah. However, Jesus operated by a principle where He was able to look beyond their shallow expressions of faith to see the internal posture and configuration of their hearts toward Him. It was not just that their faith was based upon signs, because the signs were meant to point the way to Him and confirm the words which He spoke. They trusted in His works, but not His words. They didn’t trust His words because it called for a much higher standard, and often violated the teachings and traditions of what was considered normal, acceptable and established religious practice. Therefore, they never allowed His words to penetrate their hearts deep enough to produce a transformed life (John 5:36-38).

This is where the high-ranking religious ruler named Nicodemus officially enters into the picture (v. 1). It seems quite obvious from the construction of the text and the fact that Nicodemus was both a devout religious practitioner, as well as a senior religious leader (a Pharisee and respected member of the Jewish Sanhedrin) who would have undoubtedly been present in Jerusalem during the Passover Festival, that Nicodemus was the iconic representation of those who had believed on Jesus in Jerusalem as a result of the miraculous signs He performed. To put it succinctly, Nicodemus was already a believer at the time of his visit.

While there has been great speculation among various bible expositors and commentators regarding the reasoning behind Nicodemus’ nighttime visit, the fact of the matter is that we do not know (v. 2). Scripture does not deem it necessary to inform us. It may have been the most suitable or convenient time for him to privately converse with Jesus, or it may have been as a result of pride, fear and/or a desire to protect his own lofty image and reputation. Whatever the reason, it is not important to the text.

When Nicodemus approaches Jesus, he addresses him as “Rabbi” or “my master”—an elevated religious title of respect often conferred by the Jews upon recognized or distinguished teachers or spiritual instructors, but rarely ever used by a Pharisee (much less a high ranking one like Nicodemus) on a person with no formal rabbinic training (John 7:14-15). Nicodemus clearly recognized high spiritual rank and elevated doctrinal or spiritual insight in Jesus that was not predicated upon formal religious training or recognition. In other words, even though Jesus didn’t have an earthly or religious title, “ordination” or degree, Nicodemus was still able to recognize high level spiritual ranking and resource that was far superior to anything he had ever encountered before in formal religion.

Nicodemus carefully acknowledges that Jesus’ apostolic (sent from God) teaching and miracle ministry was of divine rather than earthly origin. His acknowledgment, stated in the first person plural (we know), however, indicates that this was the general consensus of his religious company (the Sanhedrin), or more likely the entire group of believing Jews as a whole.

Jesus was recognized as God sent, because only someone sent from God could perform the miraculous signs which He did. The person sent walks and operates in the power and authority of the one who sends him, the same as if the sender was there physically with him. This would imply that Jesus was the promised Messiah sent by God to save or liberate Israel and establish an eternal kingdom.

You will notice that Nicodemus makes a clear statement, but Jesus responds as if he had really asked a question. We can only surmise from this that Nicodemus’ late visit and faith statement regarding Jesus were occasioned by a deeper wrestling or questioning within his own heart and mind regarding the certainty of Jesus being the fulfillment of the promised Messiah. And, if in fact He was, exactly how and when would He establish the kingdom and reclaim the liberty of Israel?